The Lebensborn was found by Heinrich Himmler in late 1935, with the objective of ensuring the future of the German people through „racially and biologically valuable“ descendents. Although the actions of the Lebensborn were not, by and large, conducted in secrecy, present-day information relating to the organisation is very sparse and even inaccurate. The installations were not “mating centres” – apart from the wives of SS members, the women who gave birth in these homes were mostly unmarried mothers --, nor did the organisation serve charitable purposes – they were, after all, part of inhumane population policies of the National Socialists. One of the darkest chapters in the history of the Lebensborn was its participation in the so-called “Germanisation actions”, in which suitable children from the occupied territories were kidnapped, robbed of their identity and “Germanized” [book not available in English; amazon book blub translated by C.W. Porter].

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The image of the Lebensborn homes as “stud farms”, in which blonde, blue-eyed SS Men were introduced to blonde, blue-eyed women for purposes of procreation, will probably be with us until the crack of doom – a delusion fostered over the past decade by “docu-dramas” and “novels based on historical fact”, such as Benno Voelker’s Die Schande [The Shame] (1965), and the two novels Lebensborn e.V. by Willi Berthold [author, amazingly, of at least one good history book, Die Große Trek, about the expulsion of the ethnic Germans from Poland- CP.] and Die Nächte der langen Messer [The Nights of the Long Knives - CP] by Hans Helmut Kirst [another sensation-seeking “Naz-ploitation” novelist], both of which appeared in 1975. These productions suggest that the Lebensborn was a top-secret, “bordello”-type of organisation about which little or nothing was known under the Nazi dictatorship even for many years after the war.

Whatever secrecy there actually was in connection with the Lebensborn related solely to the strict secrecy provided, maintained and guaranteed by law covering all matters relating to the homes themselves and, in particular, the names of the mothers, fathers and children, at the personal request of the actual mothers and fathers themselves. In addition, however, many other, top-secret actions actually did take place involving the Lebensborn, falling outside the realm of its original intended purpose, such as the unspeakable “Germanisation” of children kidnapped by German armed forces in the occupied territories.

The Lebensborn e.V. itself, however, was very well known, even under the Third Reich. Many articles about the association appeared in the combat sheet of the SS, Das Schwarze Korps, as well as in the Völkische Beobachter, Der Freiwillige (published by the Hilfsgemeinschaft auf Gegenseitigkeit der ehemaligen Angehorigan der Waffen-SS e.V.” (HIAG), and regional newspapers. The Lebensborn also possessed its own press agency, the chief tasks of which consisted of answering inquiries in the “small ads” sections of various newspapers.

That the Lebensborn e.V. made absolutely no secret of its existence is apparent from the fact that the Lebensborn Executive Board actually planned, in 1939, to produce a “promotional film” about the association, filmed in the actual Lebensborn homes themselves – a film to which Himmler even contributed a draft manuscript for the accompanying narration. It was noted, for one thing, that “only the most attractive mothers were to be filmed, that no film footage should be taken of unmarried mothers unless they placed no value on secrecy and expressly agreed to be filmed “. The cost of production of the 20-minute film was estimated at 12,000 RM (1). Himmler ordered the manuscript to be presented to him again in a year, but the actual filming was never completed (2). Filming had nevertheless already begun in the homes, regardless. On 2 January 1940, Himmler’s personal staff received a can of film from the “Pommern” Lebensborn

1) BA, NS 19/3925, Letter from the Lebensborn to the Personal Staff, RFSS, re: Film manuscript on the Lebensborn e.V., Munich, 17 May 1939.

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home [located in the castle at Bad Polzin, now Polczyn-Zdroj in present-day Poland -CP], with a note stating that a short film should be produced based on the footage and played for the Reichsführer SS [Himmler] from time to time.

There were also plans to have a “very attractive” report prepared on the work of the Lebensborn for the post-war period, to be sent to each member of the Lebensborn [membership in the association was compulsory for the SS and a number of other occupational groups – CP] (3). The report as to be edited “with loving care” and was to feature photographs of every Lebensborn home. “The Reichsführer believes, among other things, that Brauning should start by preparing attractive drawings or photographs of young women (...). The Reichsführer does not want a dry, factual report resembling a mere sales brochure” (4).

The Lebensborn also issued a lengthly series of brochures and prospectuses advertising its activities. In 1938, it published a 24-page brochure, printed on high-quality glossy paper and entitled Lebensborn e.V., describing the objects of the association and illustrated by photographs of the maternity hospitals and nurseries (5).

The prospectus, entitled Aufgaben und Ziele des Lebensborn [Tasks and Objectives of the Lebensborn], was divided into 20 chapters, with answers to the following questions: “Who is eligible? Where are the homes? How early should expectant mothers apply for admission? Where and to whom should inquiries be sent? Should the mothers bring baby clothes and nappies along with them to the homes? What happens to the children of unmarried mothers? What form of legal protection is afforded to mothers who are not married?”, with photographs of the living quarters, dining rooms, reading room and lounge (6).

Not “Top-Secret” at all – just exclusive

The mere fact that each SS leader had to be a member of the Lebensborn, plus the fact that a number of government ministries were responsible for the Lebensborn association and published official announcements regarding the association, makes any notion of a “secret programme” an absurdity. The homes employed hundreds of people – doctors, nurses, technical personnel – while the costs of confinement and delivery, as well as the costs of the entire stay for both mother and child, were invoiced to the various social security funds by the municipalities in which they were located. Finally, the Lebensborn association, as an economic entity, acted as contractor for numerous workmen and suppliers – for example, bed linen, medications, food and fuel. Furthermore, the Lebensborn frequently published job offers in the small ads in the Deutsche Ärzteblatt [Journal of German Physicians] to obtain sufficient medical staff.
--2) BA, NS 19/3925, Letter from Personal Staff RFSS to Lebensborn, Berlin, 27 May 1939.
3) BA, NS 19/1034, Letter Personal Staff RFSS to Sollman, Field Command Post, 15 September 1942.
4) BA, NS 19/1326, Letter Personal Staff RFSS to Press Agency RFSS, Berlin, 2 January 1942.
5) BA, NSD 42/102, Brochure Lebensborn e.V., Berlin 1938.
6) BA, NSD 41/103, Prospectus Aufgaben und Ziele des Lebensborn, undated.

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The SS medical agency published an extensive supplement on the Lebensborn in its Ausbildungsbrief [Educational Letter] no. 3, dated 31 May 1937. After a detailed description of the organisation, the paper raised the question of the manner in which pregnant women were advised to contact the association for assistance, supplying the following answer: “Expectant mothers, and unmarried mothers in particular, may learn of the Lebensborn association in several different ways. The most effective way is through the press.

Many unmarried expectant mothers became aware of the Lebensborn association and were able to contact as the result of a single article in the Schwarze Korps and another in a small central-German newspaper. Another form of advertising for the Lebensborn association -- not to be underestimated – is by word of mouth, from mothers who have given birth there. A third path -- which must unfortunately still be made straight -- is through medical practitioners” (7).

Finally, leaflets were disturbed immediately after the founding of the Lebensborn association listing the conditions for acceptance, while aLebensborn pamphlet entitled Rassepolitik [Racial Policy], published by the main office of the Reichsführer SS, unashamedly stressed the advantages of the association. A newspaper supplement entitled “Gutes Blut – Ewige Quelle” [Good Blood – Eternal Source] contained numerous photographs of “Aryan” women from Lebensborn homes, noting that the homes were located in the most beautiful areas of each Reichs district concerned and were impeccably staffed and fitted out (8).

Anyone wishing to obtain information on the Lebensborn could easily do so, at least in a general way, even under the Nazi dictatorship. In other words, the Lebensborn, although in no way a secret organisation, was an exclusive one.

Rumours of “stud farms”

Himmler placed great importance on depicting the Lebensborn as a serious association, a task which was not always easy in the face of numerous rumours, legends and myths. The Gestapo was assigned to locate the people spreading these rumours. The district president of the registry of births in Augsburg, for example, forwarded a report from the head of the district chief executive of Dillingen [Bavaria] in a monthly report for June 1943. According to the report, rumours in the municipality of Rissingen were circulating to the effect that “houses had been set up in Munich and other large cities in which women and men could meet for mating purposes “.

The “mating” was said to involve an organisation which took out mating advertising under the name ‘the Lebensborn association’, and maintained houses in SS and SA men could mate with women and young girls housed there especially for that purpose. The women involved, once pregnant, were allowed to remain in the homes during pregnancy and after delivery, at public expense.

The children ‘engendered’ in these homes were then supposedly raised by the State or by the NSV [National Socialist Welfare Association]. After an investigation, the rumour was said to have arisen after the holding of certain “enlightenment sessions” on 29 April 1943 in the district of Donauwörth [Bavaria], municipalities of Oppertshofen and Donaumünster, to be exact.
--7) BNA, NS 31/138, Informational letter no. 3 from the SS Medical Office, Berlin, 31 May 1937.
8) BA, NSD 41/128, “Gutes Blut – Ewiges Quelle”, Newspaper supplement.

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Police investigation however revealed that the rumours were already in circulation a few weeks earlier. Investigations were continuing (9).

What is more, a Leipzig SS-Sturmbannführer received a letter from a young woman requesting information on “the location of any SS ‘breeding homes’, preferably in the vicinity of Lübeck” (10). She said she had heard of these homes from a friend, an asked them to keep the matter confidential. This letter generated a flurry of frantic activity intended to discover the origins of the “breeding home”.

Since the woman gave her name and address, intensive investigations by the higher SS and police leadership Nordsee revealed that the rumour originated with a member of the Air Force (11). Finally, on 24 February 1945, SS Standartenführer Rudolf Brandt, on Himmler’s personal staff, heard that the expression “breeding home” had been used by the fiancée of an Air Force lieutenant (12).

The NCO was now being interrogated in Munich but had still not provided an answer despite being warned to do so, which “should, under the present circumstances, hardly be anticipated in foreseeable time”. Such rumours continued after the collapse of the Third Reich and served as material for numerous post-war legends. The deputy head of the Lebensborn legal department, Hans-Hilmar Staudte, admitted before the Nuremberg Tribunal that women did occasionally contact the Lebensborn with requests for a suitable partner for the procreation of a child, but that all such inquiries were rejected, usually by himself, with the stock answer that the Lebensborn did not handle negotiations of this nature.
Himmler’s call for the deliberate procreation of children regardless of wedlock remained without effect. The fact that illegitimate children were never conceived by plan was proven by the fact that the proportion of illegitimate children under the Third Reich unchanged at 8-9% of all annual births (13).
--9) BayHStA, M-Inn, V-15, no. 73667, Bayer, State Minister for the Interior, annex to letter to Sollmann, extract from monthly report of the District Presidents in Augsburg for the monthly reporting period of June 1943, Augsburg 9 July 1943, Munich, 4 July 1943.
10) BA, NS 19/203, letter to the Sturmbannführers of the SS, Leipzig, undated.
11) BA, NS 19/204, radio transmission SS-HSTUF and Hptm. D. SchP to Higher SS and Political Leader W Elbe to SS-STAF Brandt, 6 December 1944.
12) BA, NS 19/204, radio transmission , Higher SS and Political Leader Elbe to SS-Standartenführer Brandt, Dresden, 24.2.1945.
13)BA, AllProz, FC 6129 P, 884 K, sworn statement of Hans-Hilmar Staudte, Nuremberg, 10 March 1947.